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Finally, the day of Halloween arrived. It began without a hitch, Asteria and Lily awakening bright and early and immediately getting ready. Withdrawing their cat ears and bunny ears, respectively, the two girls exchanged a mischievous look and clambered out of bed as quietly as they could so as not to wake up their dorm mates. Of course, they were out of luck, as Marlene had woken up to go on her morning run and gave them a puzzled look when she saw their animal ears. She had been onto them for a while, having noticed the whispers the pair had been exchanging for the past week and Asteria's much heavier than usual book bag. Before the blonde and ginger could depart, Marlene jumped up from her bed and blocked the door.
"Neither of you are going anywhere until you fess up!" she exclaimed, causing Mary and Dorcas to wake up as well.
"Why is everyone accusing us of things lately?" Asteria threw her hands up in the air in frustration, pressing her lips together as she looked at the three girls. "We're just trying to enjoy our days at Hogwarts, is that such a crime?"
Dorcas sat up in her bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes before narrowing them playfully. "We're onto you. You two and that Slytherin girl have been planning something. Tell us what it is!"
"Don't worry, we won't snitch," Mary added, grinning. Asteria and Lily exchanged another look, before sighing and sitting on the edge of Mary's bed.
"Alright, alright," Lily finally gave in, and the two girls explained their brilliant plan. Of course, the rest of the Gryffindor girls wanted in, not ones to miss out on a magnificent adventure. And that was how Asteria found herself emptying the contents of her bag onto Mary's bed, handing each girl a firework (thank you, Adonis) and swearing them to secrecy.
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As usual, the girls met at the tree down by the lake. This time, however, instead of just being the three of them, there were six. Magnolia was unpleasantly surprised when Marlene, Dorcas, and Mary joined their ranks, her initial reaction rooted in irritation. As soon as she realized that they were not enemies, she calmed down, knowing that she could trust Asteria to not invite people that she wouldn't like. The Gryffindor and Slytherin duo discovered they had the same mind processes, making it that much easier for them to always be on the same page. While Lily and Asteria had clicked in terms of academics and house, Magnolia and Asteria had bonded over similar thought processes and upbringings.
After introductions were out of the way, Magnolia had enchanted all of their robes, grinning as she saw her charmwork executed flawlessly. All six of their robes were flashing orange and black; you could no longer tell their house simply based on their robes. It was a mere foreshadow to what would occur later that night at the renowned Halloween feast. The prank had now been planned down to the dot, with no room for error and no way anything could be traced back to them.
"Tell me again how you came up with this plan?" Dorcas furrowed her eyebrows, eyes skimming over the parchment that had been filled with Asteria's messy scribbles. "It's absolutely brilliant."
